Customer Analytics Deals Surge in Value as SaaS Dominates the M&A Market

While M&A activity in the overall market has seen a slowdown in 2019, SaaS transactions have accounted for a sizable chunk of deal volume, bringing the whole IT sector along with it. Customer Analytics SaaS, in particular, has fetched a pretty penny, establishing the value in understanding audience and consumer behavior. As we enter Q3, SaaS is expected to continue its dominance, aided by Customer Analytics acquisitions.

On September 26, 2019, Customer Analytics SaaS provider, Crossix Solutions, was acquired by cloud-based life sciences software provider Veeva Systems for $430 million. Crossix develops a data analytics platform for media and marketing of the healthcare sector.

In August this year, Synescort (backed by Centerbridge Partners), acquired the data management software solutions business of Pitney Bowes for $700 million. Pitney Bowes provides data management, BI, customer analytics and customer service automation software and SaaS for businesses.

In January of 2019, enterprise software giant SAP completed the largest of these deals in the last twelve months, acquiring marketing automation and experience SaaS provider Qualtrics for a whopping $8 billion. This transaction also marked SAP’s second largest in its history.

Also in August 2019, cloud-based connected planning platform provider Anaplan acquired Israeli Customer Analytics SaaS company Mintigo for $40 million, which provides AI and predictive analytics-based marketing and sales SaaS for businesses.

In March of 2019, cloud-based survey software company SurveyMonkey acquired customer feedback and analysis SaaS provider Usabilla for $80 million, marking a major milestone in the customer feedback space.